Ghost
by Misato
Summary: What happened with Claude on the bridge was necessary. Now Bennet just wants the sleepless nights to stop. Spoilers through 1 x 17, Company Man. Gen: Bennet, Claude, Wee!Claire, Haitian


(A/N: This takes place immediately after Claude's shooting. Special thanks to lunaiscross for the excellent beta and for assuaging my angst over the ending.:)

**Ghost**

Bennet has to pull over and throw up about twenty miles from the bridge. He ruins the tie Sandra gave him for his birthday and lies to himself that he's just gagging on the smell of gunpowder. Just when he thinks there's nothing left to bring up he remembers the way Claude gasped when the first bullet hit and starts retching all over again.

His throat burns and his hands are shaking when he leans back in the car. He throws the tie out the window and starts the engine; he's already late for supper, and that's too many times this week. After ten minutes the car's too quiet and Bennet blasts the radio, not caring what station. Suddenly, he hears someone else breathing.

He veers off the road and switches off the radio. He clicks the safety off his gun and watches the passenger seat from the corner of his eye. Finally, he steels himself and reaches over to the next seat. He doesn't touch anything but air. He waves his hand to make sure there's no one, then leans his head against the steering wheel and convinces himself the emotion he's feeling is relief.

_"Evidently I think you're a better man than they do."_

xxxx_  
_

He drives the rest of the way home in silence.

xxxx

Claire and Lyle are already in bed when he walks in the door, and Sandra looks like she's about to turn in herself. She takes one look at him and helps him take off his jacket. "Do you want any supper?" she says, settling him into his chair. "I could just heat some right up."

It takes him a second to remember to respond. "No, I'm fine. I had something at the office."

She clucks her tongue at him. "That is no substitute for a home cooked meal." She doesn't insist, and he's thankful. She rubs his shoulders and he catches a whiff of her perfume. "You comin' to bed?"

"In a bit." He kisses her cheek. "You go up without me, I'll be right there."

She ruffles his hair, but he can feel her frowning. "I don't mean to pry, but are you sure you're all right? You look like someone ran over your dog."

"I'm fine. You go to bed. I just have a little headache."

She kisses him and heads upstairs, and he tells himself this is what he's fighting to protect.

xxxx

He nods off in the chair; when he opens his eyes Claude's sitting in the couch across from him, bleeding. "You shot me," he says, incredulously. "You actually shot me! I _trusted_ you."

"You didn't give me a choice. I had to."

"After eight years, it's just that easy. After all the times I saved your life. You would've burned up in that fire seven years ago if I hadn't been there."

"You broke the rules."

"That's right. I broke the company's precious rules." Claude stands up, leans over him, and Bennet can see how each of his bullets ripped through his body. "Was it easier because I was just one of _them_?"

"I was doing my job!"

Bennet jerks awake. The room is empty and quiet. Still, when he gets up to go to bed, he can't help but expect to see Claude's blood staining the cushions.

xxxx

Five hours later Bennet's still lying awake. Sandra stirs next to him, props herself up on one elbow. "Honey, are you still up?"

He nods, and she smoothes his hair. "You're not fine," she says. "I bet you haven't slept a wink all night. You can tell me what's wrong, you know. Might help."

"Oh," he says, "I just had a rough day at work." He sees Claude jerk back as he pulls the trigger a second time, a third. "I had to fire someone."

She makes soothing noises as she tucks the blankets around him. "You're such a soft touch," she says, and Bennet feels real shame for the first time in his life. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"No, I'm fine, really. You go back to sleep."

She snuggles against him and within minutes her breathing deepens as she drifts off. A few minutes later, so does he.

xxxx

Bennet never gets accustomed to the smell of the dissection room. The researcher pulls back the sheet and shock runs through Bennet as he recognizes Claude stretched out on the table; he finds himself counting the holes he shot through his ex-partner's chest. As the doctor's scalpel makes the first incision Claude's eyes snap open; he grabs Bennet by the wrist and looks right at him. Bennet tries to jerk back, but Claude won't let go.

No one else is reacting; the doctor continues the dissection, the other researchers continue making their notes. Claude pulls Bennet closer until they're face to face. "This'll be Claire one day," he whispers.

xxxx

Bennet sits up in bed with a jolt. He's covered in sweat, and he feels the nausea that overcame him in the car building again. He slips out of bed and finds himself standing over the sink; he splashes water on his face and tries to steady his nerves.

There's a noise at the open doorway and Bennet jumps; he spins around to see Claire standing in the hall in her new Winnie the Pooh nightgown. "Daddy, are you sick?"

"No," he says, drying his face off. "No, sweetheart, Daddy's just having a rough night." Claire continues to look up at him, and he crouches down to her eye level. "You know you should be in bed, right? You have school tomorrow, and Mommy will be upset if she knows you're up."

"I had a nightmare." Bennet has no idea why Claire always comes to him with bad dreams. He's never encouraged it, but ever since she was old enough to climb out of bed he was always the one she would wake up. "I think there's a monster in my closet. I heard it."

"Claire Bear, I promise there is no monster in your closet. They're not allowed. That's the house rule, no monsters. And before you say it, no, your brother is _not_ a monster."

Claire gives him a half smile. "Can I have a kiss?"

Bennet kisses her on the forehead. "Now off to bed." He watches her pad down the hall and disappear into her room. He imagines her laid out on a dissection slab and has to bend over the sink as the bile rises.

xxxx

A half hour later he's sitting on the edge of the bed when the thought strikes him that Claire had said she'd _heard_ the monster. If there was any chance Claude wasn't dead...if he was right, if she was one of them...he might take her. The invisible son of a bitch might take her away.

He rushes into Claire's room; she's left the door ajar, and his heart almost stops when he sees the window standing open. Then he sees asleep in her bed, her covers half kicked off. He actually does check her closet, feeling foolish, but doesn't stop until he looks in every possible hiding place.

He walks back to Claire's bed and starts to tuck her back in, but then changes his mind, picking her up and settling back in a chair with her in his lap. "You can't have her," he says, and he's not even sure who he's talking to anymore.

_"The vivisections were starting to keep me up at night"._

"Daddy?" Claire says, yawning. "Are you here to keep the monsters away?"

"That's what Daddies do, Claire Bear." She nuzzles against his chest and soon falls back to sleep, and Bennet holds her as the sun comes up.

xxxx

Two weeks later Bennet calls for the Haitian. He closes the door to the office behind them; the Haitian sits down across from Bennet when invited. The Haitian has grown since Bennet's used him last, maturing to a tall young man with chiseled features.

"Do you know why I asked for you?" he asks, and the Haitian shakes his head. "Do you remember my...my partner, Claude? He had an ability, like you." The Haitian nods, and Bennet continues. "We found out he'd broken a rule and I had to...take care of things. Do you understand?"

The Haitian pauses, then nods again. He cocks his head to the side, waiting for Bennet to continue.

"I need you to make me forget. Let me know what I did, but not actually remember it. And there are a few other memories from the past few years I need erased. The first...:

"No."

The single word catches Bennet so off-guard that he completely loses his train of thought. ""Did...did you just talk?"

The Haitian smiles. "Yes."

Bennet suddenly feels like he's been the one struck dumb. "You can talk?" The Haitian only smiles. "Then why don't you?"

"I will speak to you." The Haitian leans back. "But I will not do what you ask."

"You have to," Bennet snaps. The Haitian merely looks at him, and he feels his control melt away. "I have to make the dreams stop. I can't work like this. You can't imagine..."

The Haitian considers him for a moment. "It is important you remember." Bennet watches him rise from the chair and head towards the door. He put a one hand on the doorknob and turns back. "It is good that you asked me to do this."

"And why is that?"

"It means there is hope for you." He turns the knob, and Bennet stands up.

"Wait," he says. The Haitian turns back to him. "How do you know I won't tell our bosses you can talk? They'll find that very interesting after all these years."

The Haitian pauses. "I will have to trust you," he says, and then he smiles again. "And you will have to trust me."

The Haitian lets himself out, and Bennet slumps over his desk. He swears he can hear Claude laughing.


End file.
